AN Israeli expert has said that Israel cannot defeat Hezbollah directly as the group has a domestic political base. Moreover, the group has recently bolstered an arsenal in a strategic threat to Israel.
Giora Eiland, an army ex-general who served as national security advisor to two former prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert, was quoted as saying that Israel did not know how to beat Hezbollah.
Though Hezbollah is outnumbered by the Israeli army, Eiland says, it can inflict heavy damage on the Israeli home front if war broke out.
“Our only way of preventing the next war, and of winning if it happens anyway, is for it to be clear to everyone …that another war between us and Hezbollah will be a war between Israel and the state of Lebanon and will wreak destruction on the state of Lebanon. And as no one – including Hezbollah, the Syrians or the Iranians – is interested in this, this is the best way of creating effective deterrence,” Eiland said.
